Nashville Bits and Pieces

[KJHburg]

In terms of Microsoft which announced in the last 3 months a 430 job expansion Charlotte and then in late Dec. another 500 jobs in the Raleigh suburb of Morrisville,  has been looking at a fairly large office in Atlanta I know.  

due to NC public records law once an economic development  project project file is closed the records can be released.  This is about Microsoft expansion in Morrisville just released yesterday and shows how fast Microsoft wanted to work and get the project done.  With this interest in Nashville then backing off I wonder if it was a time crunch or did someone not work on their schedule or something. 

from the Triangle Biz Journal   ""The work to land Microsoft’s second expansion in North Carolina in 2019 was fast paced, according to public records released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce.  Many of the economic development officials working on "Project Kirk" had also worked to secure more than 400 Microsoft jobs in Charlotte in October. They worked quickly to finalize plans in November with just days to spare. Microsoft would pledge to bring 500 jobs to Morrisville — a particularly big win in light of the competition.   Landing the jobs entailed early conference calls on Pacific Time and squeezing in document reviews during out-of-town conferences.  “Microsoft is hoping to fast track the potential approvals,” Sydney August from CBRE wrote to economic development officials Nov. 20 regarding an incentives package. “Is it possible to call a special EIC meeting if needed?”  By Nov. 21, however, officials were confident they’d secure the deal, with Commerce communications personnel starting to formulate a plan for a December announcement. The final application came via FedEx on Nov. 25.""

On Dec. 17 they announced the new office in Morrisville. 

Edited January 16, 2020 by KJHburg

[TheRaglander]

Anyone watching ‘Messiah’ on Netflix?  So much of it was filmed in Nashville.  It’s a pretty good show too.  They used shots in Nashville to mimic Texas and DC.  You can see the McDonalds on Broadway in ep 7 and they also used the War Memorial Plaza.  Check it out.  I had no idea they filmed here. 

[markhollin]

More on the potential of Microsoft possibly opening a large branch in Nashville.  Looks like it would be around 1,500 jobs needing 200,000 sq. ft. of space.  They were supposed to tour 3 office buildings under construction on Dec. 10th, but suddenly cancelled.

I appears that we might be in a bidding war of sorts with several other markets.  Microsoft was evaluating multiple cities, sources said. Some sources raised the prospect that Microsoft may have been using Nashville as a foil in talks for expansion in a different city, which is a common practice in these kinds of site searches.

Privately, a number of business leaders have expressed concerns about Mayor Cooper's decision to pause incentives, worrying that it could dent Nashville's business-friendly reputation.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/01/15/microsoft-visits-nashville-for-potential-expansion.html?iana=hpmvp_nsh_news_headline

[dmillsphoto]

11 hours ago, TheRaglander said:

Anyone watching ‘Messiah’ on Netflix?  So much of it was filmed in Nashville.  It’s a pretty good show too.  They used shots in Nashville to mimic Texas and DC.  You can see the McDonalds on Broadway in ep 7 and they also used the War Memorial Plaza.  Check it out.  I had no idea they filmed here. 

I sailed through that show last week and hadn't realized that at all. Guess I'll have to go back and re-watch,

[Craiger]

14 hours ago, DDIG said:

Nashville to New York is a bad comparison. Sure some companies go to New York regardless because the massive talent base is there.

And some companies come to Nashville because of the lower cost of living and low taxes as well as the growing workforce. That's my point. Every city has benefits. Hell, they could build a huge HQ in the middle of Montana and have enormous salary savings right? Or they could go to the Bay area where the talent is unmatched in the world. Or maybe they could go to Nashville where the talent is growing, cost of living is cheap(er), and taxes are low. These companies choose the cities they are interested in for a variety of factors. 2.5 million dollars a year is one of those factors but it PALES in comparison to the savings they would have on taxes and lower salary based on cost of living in Nashville. Which is my original point. No way did Microsoft pull out because of the tiny incentives the city decided not to hand out. Only when dumb cities/states like NY decide to shovel money (Billions) at these companies do these incentives become the top priority. 

Now, don't get me wrong. This may have been leaked by the State to shame the city. We know the state doesn't get along with it's few largest cities. Microsoft may even leak that it was the lack of incentives that caused them to pull out. Why wouldn't they say that? They want every city they are interested in to think they need to scrape together every penny they can to give over to one of the largest companies in the world.

Cities need to focus on the fundamentals. Spend that money on your infrastructure, parks, schools.  Make your city a nice place to live. That's where these companies really want to go because that's where the talent wants to live. 

 

(I don't want to turn this into a long back and forth so I'll end it with this post on this topic.)

[downtownresident]

30 minutes ago, markhollin said:

More on the potential of Microsoft possibly opening a large branch in Nashville.  Looks like it would be around 1,500 jobs needing 200,000 sq. ft. of space.  They were supposed to tour 3 office buildings under construction on Dec. 10th, but suddenly cancelled.

I appears that we might be in a bidding war of sorts with several other markets.  Microsoft was evaluating multiple cities, sources said. Some sources raised the prospect that Microsoft may have been using Nashville as a foil in talks for expansion in a different city, which is a common practice in these kinds of site searches.

Privately, a number of business leaders have expressed concerns about Mayor Cooper's decision to pause incentives, worrying that it could dent Nashville's business-friendly reputation.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/01/15/microsoft-visits-nashville-for-potential-expansion.html?iana=hpmvp_nsh_news_headline

Given the timing, we may have served foil to the expansion in NC that KJHBurg was referencing above. 
 

Given that the city’s standard incentive is $500/job, if we aren’t willing to find $750,000 to continue to grow our tech presence, then the Cooper admin is short-sighted. 

[Craiger]

36 minutes ago, downtownresident said:

Given the timing, we may have served foil to the expansion in NC that KJHBurg was referencing above. 
 

Given that the city’s standard incentive is $500/job, if we aren’t willing to find $750,000 to continue to grow our tech presence, then the Cooper admin is short-sighted. 

How can you say in one line that we were serving as foil, then in the next line act like we actually missed out on something? Maybe i'm misunderstanding the definition of "served as foil," but in the context it seems to mean Microsoft wasn't really ever considering Nashville at all in which case I'm glad Cooper didn't play ball. This whole story refers exactly to what I was saying above. Microsoft knows where they want to go. Now they are going to play games to get every last dime out of their top picks. 

[nashvylle]

8 minutes ago, Craiger said:

How can you say in one line that we were serving as foil, then in the next line act like we actually missed out on something? Maybe i'm misunderstanding the definition of "served as foil," but in the context it seems to mean Microsoft wasn't really ever considering Nashville at all in which case I'm glad Cooper didn't play ball. This whole story refers exactly to what I was saying above. Microsoft knows where they want to go. Now they are going to play games to get every last dime out of their top picks. 

I think what @downtownresident was implying was IF Nashville was not a foil AND Cooper simply didn't want to offer any incentives, then that would be shortsighted. 

[MLBrumby]

Part of my role now in the firm is in 'sales' (that's not what we call it). We would never turn away anyone who wants to come see us. Now we'll put them through certain 'levels'... Jr., Associate, Principal/Partner... and they're always taken seriously, if for any reason simply to stay in tune with what's going on outside. Even if Cooper's office learned Nashville was a foil, the fact they scrapped the tour is extremely dumb.

[Craiger]

4 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

Part of my role now in the firm is in 'sales' (that's not what we call it). We would never turn away anyone who wants to come see us. Now we'll put them through certain 'levels'... Jr., Associate, Principal/Partner... and they're always taken seriously, if for any reason simply to stay in tune with what's going on outside. Even if Cooper's office learned Nashville was a foil, the fact they scrapped the tour is extremely dumb.

I'm not able to get behind the paywall. Is it confirmed that the city scrapped the tour? 

[downtownresident]

6 minutes ago, Craiger said:

I'm not able to get behind the paywall. Is it confirmed that the city scrapped the tour? 

The way the sentence reads is that Microsoft cancelled, not the city. 

[MLBrumby]

That is not stated in the article. I'm supposing... IF that's the case. 

[Craiger]

Goodness.

[NashWellington11]

20 hours ago, nashvylle said:

Disagree. In my opinion, I do think these companies do weigh incentives as a big factor. And amazon is hiring 1K jobs in NYC, not 25K. 

There were two HUGE things that hurt Amazon in NYC:

First, the neighborhood they targeted was already in the middle of a big gentrification fight and when Amazon announced their intent to move there, they bore the brunt of all of the backlash that had been building up.

Second, but most importantly,  the HQ2 competition made a ton of cities put their cards on the table as far as how much they are willing to give in incentives. Many have argued that over the long term this cache of incentive data will be hugely beneficial to Amazon as it chooses where to locate and/or expand offices and distribution centers around the country. Many of the non-selected offers were never publicly disclosed by the cities offering them. However,  NYC and Virginia had to publicly state their incentive offers once they were chosen. Between NYC and Virginia, it was VERY obvious that Virginia had done a much better job of negotiating than NYC. Virginia offered far less in incentives but they were granted the same amount of jobs and a 50% cut of HQ2 . New Yorkers were pissed when they realized that their lawmakers had given away the farm when they didn't have to.

Edited January 16, 2020 by NashWellington11
typo

[KJHburg]

In terms of Microsoft they seem to want to work very fast and maybe the indecision and discussion over incentives for other companies caused them to cancel their meetings.  I  know they are looking a large office in midtown Atlanta and have been shopping for space there but nothing has happened yet.  Not sure if the NC projects were in competition with Nashville or not and you maybe competing for this office with Atlanta.  Microsoft has a huge office in Charlotte and has so for years currently at 1400 people plus 430 new jobs. 

[markhollin]

Nashville's hotel boom continues:

- The number of hotels within a two-mile radius from Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, the city’s most famous honky-tonk, has swelled 2.5 times larger since 2011.

- Total revenue from hotels in that footprint exceeded $800 million in 2019 — four times larger than the bookings in 2011.

- The average room price has jumped 80%, nearing $250 a night, according to Hendersonville-based STR Inc.

- 2014 was the first time the hotels in Greater Nashville had any month in which they collectively made $100 million of revenue or more. They cleared that bar every month in 2019.

- In October, they came just $1.3 million shy of hitting $200 million, according to data from STR Inc. 

“Our supply growth is a much higher percentage than the national average. That figure is incredible. Which, at the same time, is matched by a mind-boggling increase in room demand,” said Jan Freitag, a senior vice president at STR.

When does it stop?

“Ask me in 2022, I guess,” Freitag said. “The short answer is, we don’t see it yet. We haven’t even seen the impact of a fully established Amazon or AllianceBernstein headquarters, which comes with people who want to do business with them.”

More behind the NBJ paywall here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/01/17/room-boom-nashvilles-hotel-growth-is-soaring.html?iana=hpmvp_nsh_news_headline

[NashWellington11]

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

- Total revenue from hotels in that footprint exceeded $800 million in 2019 — four times larger than the bookings in 2011.

- The average room price has jumped 80%, nearing $250 a night, according to Hendersonville-based STR Inc.

- 2014 was the first time the hotels in Greater Nashville had any month in which they collectively made $100 million of revenue or more. They cleared that bar every month in 2019.

All of this just begs the question:  Where are all of the tax revenues from this unprecedented and largely unexpected tourism and hotel boom? Last time I checked the city was not giving hotels incentives (the Omni excluded) and the city heavily taxes tourists on hotel rooms, rental cars, etc. This is all brand new tax revenue. With all of the new hotels the city should be printing money but yet it is in the red. Something doesn't add up here.

Edited January 17, 2020 by NashWellington11

[MLBrumby]

Good question. I'm sort of late to this matter; so I haven't paid close attention to areas where metro's expenditures shot up dramatically over recent years. That would be the first place I'd look if I were a journalist. Of course, we know all the journalists in Nashville have left town. 

[nashvylle]

25 minutes ago, NashWellington11 said:

All of this just begs the question:  Where are all of the tax revenues from this unprecedented and largely unexpected tourism and hotel boom? Last time I checked the city was not giving hotels incentives (the Omni excluded) and the city heavily taxes tourists on hotel rooms, rental cars, etc. This is all brand new tax revenue. With all of the new hotels the city should be printing money but yet it is in the red. Something doesn't add up here.

The convention center is paid off via a hotel/motel tax and sales tax within the tourist development zone, but as far as real estate taxes from the hotels... all of that should be going to the general fund. 

[PaulChinetti]

35 minutes ago, NashWellington11 said:

All of this just begs the question:  Where are all of the tax revenues from this unprecedented and largely unexpected tourism and hotel boom? Last time I checked the city was not giving hotels incentives (the Omni excluded) and the city heavily taxes tourists on hotel rooms, rental cars, etc. This is all brand new tax revenue. With all of the new hotels the city should be printing money but yet it is in the red. Something doesn't add up here.

I have to assume all of them used their swarm of lawyers to get their tax bill lowered... but that's the jaded side of me talking.

[downtownresident]

58 minutes ago, NashWellington11 said:

All of this just begs the question:  Where are all of the tax revenues from this unprecedented and largely unexpected tourism and hotel boom? Last time I checked the city was not giving hotels incentives (the Omni excluded) and the city heavily taxes tourists on hotel rooms, rental cars, etc. This is all brand new tax revenue. With all of the new hotels the city should be printing money but yet it is in the red. Something doesn't add up here.

A few of the hotels received TIF loans from MDHA, which means the increased property taxes go toward paying those off, and then once those are done, toward paying off the monster TIF loan given to the Omni. 

[donNdonelson2]

According to a Tennessean article from a couple of years ago, the Hall of Fame and Omni combined got $61 million in TIF loan dollars.

[markhollin]

Hilton announced a new brand, named Tempo, and Nashville is among the 30 cities where it is debuting. A company spokeswoman declined to share details such as the exact location for the planned hotel or which developer the company is working with.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/01/17/the-debut-of-deal-dash-apartments-an-apple-store.html?iana=hpmvp_nsh_news_headline

[Sean blackdog]

[smeagolsfree]

On 1/17/2020 at 6:20 PM, markhollin said:

Hilton announced a new brand, named Tempo, and Nashville is among the 30 cities where it is debuting. A company spokeswoman declined to share details such as the exact location for the planned hotel or which developer the company is working with.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/01/17/the-debut-of-deal-dash-apartments-an-apple-store.html?iana=hpmvp_nsh_news_headline

This is the only other info I could find.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hilton-hlt-launches-lifestyle-brand-134901537.html